BOYS BASKETBALL: Blissfield downs LCAA rival Hudson

Wednesday

Dec 18, 2013 at 1:15 PM

Onsted outlasts Ida in triple overtime

By Daily Telegram staff

Connor Vandecaveye fired in 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to power the Blissfield High School boys basketball team Tuesday to a 69-36 win over Hudson to open Lenawee County Athletic Association play.

The Royals were connecting from long range to further add to Hudson’s defensive woes, hitting eight 3-pointers on the night, with five different players finding the mark from beyond the arc.

Blissfield (2-1) took a 39-21 lead at halftime and then turned up the defense even more in the second half, holding the Tigers to single-digit scoring in both the third and fourth quarters.

“We played pretty well tonight, and we will have a tough one on Thursday with Dundee at our place,” Blissfield coach John Vandecaveye said. “We keep improving slightly as a team with each game, and that has to continue right on through the LCAA schedule.”

Jake Kopka added 12 points and four assists for Blissfield.

Cody Nelson’s 10 points paced Hudson.

Onsted 64, Ida 60 (3OT): At Ida, a wild game culminated when Austin Davis hit the second of two foul shots in regulation, setting the stage for three hotly-contested overtime periods, with the Wildcats pulling out an LCAA-opening victory. The Wildcats improve to 2-1 overall.

Onsted led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but some sharp-shooting by the Bluestreaks helped get them back in the game, and the two teams went back-and-forth in the fourth quarter and all three overtimes. Toward the end of regulation, Ida took a one-point lead with 2.5 seconds left on a free throw, but Onsted set up a final play and Brian Frieberger threw a pass to Davis, who was fouled and missed his first foul shot but made the tying second free throw.

In the third overtime, both Frieberger and Brett Anderson came up with key steals to stop Ida scoring chances.

Ida hit nine 3-pointers and also connected on 21-of-31 free throws, while Onsted struggled at the line, going 9-for-21.

Clinton (0-2, 0-1 TCC) took a three-point lead in the final minutes, before BD regained the advantage and kept the Redskins at bay with made free throws. Clinton misfired on a heavily-contested 3 as time ran out.

Morenci 60, Sand Creek 38: At Morenci, the Bulldogs were hot from beyond the arc in Tuesday's TCC opener. Morenci made eight 3s on 11 attempts en route to the win.

Morenci (2-0, 1-0 TCC) outscored Sand Creek 20-2 in the second quarter, during which the Bulldogs connected on four of their triples. They displayed strong ball movement to find open shots, according to coach Jim Bauer.

Madison 53, Whitmore Lake 27: At Whitmore Lake, Madison shined on defense in its TCC opener, holding Whitmore Lake to three points in the first quarter and 10 combined in the second half.

Madison (1-1, 1-0 TCC) jumped ahead 35-17 at halftime and cruised to the win.Leading for the Trojans was Collin Slates who netted 18 points and Prince Benson who recorded 11.

Ann Arbor Skyline 52, Tecumseh 25: At Tecumseh, the host Indians couldn’t connect from longer range and eventually lost the Southeastern Conference game against the Eagles. Tecumseh trailed just 8-4 after the opening quarter after executing well, but jump shots were not falling from that point after and the Indians fell behind 23-9 at halftime.

Compounding Tecumseh’s woes was not getting to the foul line but five times in the game, compared to 15 for the Eagles.

The Indians (0-3, 0-1 SEC) were led by Noah Willett’s 11 points.

-- Tecumseh JV: The Indians lost the junior varsity game 48-39. Tom Mammel led Tecumseh with 12 points and 10 rebounds.